Mo. bill would prevent future child farm labor limitations

A Missouri bill would prevent any future efforts to prevent youth from working on farms.

According to the Associated Press, the Missouri Senate is schedule to vote on the bill, SB16, this week. The bill would exempt youth under the age of 16 from being required to get a work certificate and from being limited on the number of days and hours they can work.

Instead, they would only need parental consent.

A summary of proposed bill states, “This act exempts farm work performed by children under the age of 16 from certain child labor requirements including: the obtaining of a work certificate; hours/days of performance; and certain prohibited hazardous jobs such as operating and maintaining power-driven machinery, climbing ladders, operating vehicles, and working with certain chemicals. This exemption only applies to children working on their own family farms and, when with the knowledge and consent of their parents, the family farms of others.”

The bill comes in the wake of an attempt made by the federal government to limit youth from working on farms. The Department of Labor’s proposed rule limiting child farm labor was announced in 2011, but public outcry and pressure from a variety of political and public sources prevented the rule from being enacted. It was officially withdrawn in May 2012.